They’re all reborn, what’s wrong with being a little more almighty?

Chapter 240 Two Collaborations
As the anniversary celebration of the Department of Electronic Engineering began, Wang Xing was shocked to find that the junior fellow student who had just run up to him and said he wanted to invest in the campus network was actually sitting in the second row!
You have to know that those who are qualified to sit in the first three rows are not ordinary people.

In addition to the leaders and a few guests who needed to go on stage to give speeches, those who could sit in the first row included several academicians and several senior professors in their eighties and nineties from the School of Electronic Engineering.

The second row is second only to the academicians, which is itself a symbol of status.

"Who exactly is this junior? If he is just a rich second-generation, he wouldn't be sitting there!" Wang Xing decided to ask someone he knew about this.

After the celebration ceremony, Wang Xing found one of his former senior brothers.

When Wang Xing was studying in the Department of Electronic Engineering, this senior was two years older than him. Later, this senior studied for a master's and doctoral degree at Tsinghua University. After graduation, he stayed on to teach at the university and is now a lecturer.

"Wang Xing, I heard that you started your own business after returning from the United States? How is it going? Is it going well?" the senior brother asked with concern.

"It's okay. It's slowly getting on track now." Wang Xing replied.

"Brother, I don't have any special abilities, but if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"Thank you, senior brother." Wang Xing thanked him and finally asked about Zhang Wei.

"Brother, there was a student named Zhang Wei in our Electronic Engineering Department in the 03 class. He dropped out and went to study biology. Do you know this person?"

"You are talking about Zhang Wei! How could I not know him? He is the treasure of our Tsinghua University and the most talented scientist since its founding!"

As the senior brother spoke, he introduced Zhang Wei to Wang Xing. Only then did Wang Xing realize that the young man just now was actually a big shot of this level!
"Is this Zhang Wei very rich?" Wang Xing asked again.

"A scholar of his level cannot be measured by money. But I think that with his scientific research ability, he can get tens of millions of research funds at any university." The senior replied.

Wang Xing nodded as if he suddenly understood: "So, maybe he can really come up with a million dollars to invest in my campus network!"

……

The next day, Wang Xing invited Zhang Wei to the office building rented by Xiaonei.com.

"This is our work area." Wang Xing pointed to a large office and continued, "Xiaonei.com has just started. We are still in the initial stage. We don't have many people. The product development and website maintenance departments work together. The office conditions are also relatively simple."

Zhang Wei nodded. For a startup company, it’s good enough to have a place to work. Why would you need a bicycle?

There is nothing worth visiting in Wang Xing’s company, you can see the end at a glance.

"That's my office, Junior Brother, shall we go in and sit down?" Wang Xing said.

"Okay! Let's go to your office and talk slowly." Zhang Wei nodded.

In addition to Wang Xing, several other members of the campus network startup team also followed.

After sitting down, Wang Xing started to introduce: "At present, the labor cost of our campus network is not high. For example, several of our team founders do not receive any salary.

In terms of hardware, it mainly involves the purchase of computers and other office equipment, as well as the rent of office buildings, which have already been invested in the early stages. The biggest expense is still the cost of renting servers.”

"I understand. The web game I'm working on also uses a rented server, which is indeed very expensive." Zhang Wei nodded, and then asked, "If I give you one million US dollars in financing, how long can you last?"

"There will definitely be no problem by next summer." Wang Xing said firmly.

Zhang Wei smiled and shook his head: "Brother, we are both from Tsinghua University. I don't treat you as an outsider."

Wang Xing grinned awkwardly: "It should be no problem to hold on until the end of the year."

"I think it will be difficult by the end of the year!" Zhang Wei continued, "You have to consider that the user base of the campus network will continue to increase. The existing servers will definitely not be able to meet the needs of the campus network in the future. Renting new servers is inevitable."

"It is indeed possible, but the rapid increase in the customer base is also a good thing for us. I wish there were millions of people using our campus network!" Wang Xing said with a smile.

Zhang Wei continued to ask: "What direction do you have for making profits from Xiaonei? "

"Profits mainly depend on advertising. We are already trying to accept advertisements. I believe that if our user base increases, it will definitely generate very good advertising benefits and will attract many advertisers." Wang Xing replied.

Zhang Wei nodded. At that time, the income of social networking sites still depended on advertising. With the development of the Internet, there would be more profit models.

Currently, all users of the campus network are college students, so there is no need to worry about precise advertising placement. As long as the ads are targeted at college students, they can be placed directly.

"Okay, I'll invest the one million dollars!" Zhang Wei paused and continued, "But I still hope that the campus network can be opened to non-student groups as soon as possible."

Wang Xing did not speak, but a partner next to him said: "In fact, our positioning is mainly a campus social network. If we open it to non-student groups, it will be far away from the original intention of our establishment of Xiaonei.com.

And I think if we open it to non-student groups, it will cause dissatisfaction among students. They may give up using the campus network, and we will lose a lot of users.”

Zhang Wei pondered for a moment and said, "The idea of ​​​​Xiaonei.com should come from Facebook in the United States, right? If Facebook is open to non-student groups, are you willing to open it to non-student groups as well?"

Wang Xing still didn't speak, but looked at the other partners, as if asking for their opinions.

The other people looked at each other, obviously having their own ideas.

No startup team wants investors to tell them what to do. There are many cases where startup teams and investors part ways because of disagreements.

Since it is a campus social networking site, it should only be targeted at campuses and should not be open to the general public. This is obviously the idea of ​​the founding team of Xiaonei.com.

But if Facebook is also open to social groups, then they will have no reason to continue to stick to the field of campus social networking. After all, Xiaonei.com was originally a website that imitated Facebook.

Zhang Wei continued, "How about we sign a bet agreement? If Facebook is open to non-campus groups before January 1 next year, then Xiaonei.com must also be open to non-campus groups within one month. If Facebook is not open to non-campus groups, then just pretend I never made this request."

The startup team exchanged opinions in a low voice and thought that this plan was feasible. If Facebook was open to the public, it meant that there was no problem with this decision, and it was only natural for Xiaonei to follow in Facebook's footsteps.

The startup team quickly reached a consensus, and Wang Xing spoke on behalf of the team members: "Okay, let's do as you say."

Zhang Wei continued: “Since we are talking about Facebook, I would also like to make a suggestion about the operation of Xiaonei.com. I hope that Xiaonei.com will not only take Facebook as its goal, but also take Facebook as its template.

The future development direction of Xiaonei.com can be completely copied from Facebook. We will imitate whatever new content Facebook launches.”

"You mean, let's copy Facebook?" The startup team member who spoke just now frowned, he obviously didn't like this proposal.

"Of course, I'm not asking Xiaonei to give up innovation. We can imitate Facebook and make innovations that are suitable for localization. But copying Facebook's homework is something we must do."

Zhang Wei paused and continued, "The Internet industry in the United States is far more developed than that in China. I think everyone should agree with this, right? Facebook has achieved rapid success since its establishment. I think everyone should also admit this, right?"

Some people were silent, some nodded, at least no one raised any objections, and they obviously agreed with Zhang Wei's statement.

Zhang Wei continued: “Since Facebook has been able to succeed in the developed Internet market of the United States, their success experience must be worth learning from.

I know you will think that this is like copying Facebook, and you will also think that this will stifle innovation in Xiaonei. But I think that there is nothing wrong with the laggards copying the development model of the advanced ones. On the contrary, it is a way to make rapid progress.

It's like, Facebook is a top student from an excellent university, while campus network is an ordinary student from an ordinary university. If students from ordinary universities want to improve their grades, learning from top students from excellent universities is a shortcut!
Since someone has already invented the wheel, there is no need for us to reinvent the wheel. Copying the wheel will not affect the speed of the cars we build!

What's more, that's Facebook, the best social networking site in the world right now, right? It's not shameful for us to learn from the best peers in the world!"

After hearing Zhang Wei's words, Wang Xing nodded first: "Junior brother, what you said makes sense. We should really put aside some of our pride and learn from Facebook."

"But what if Facebook sues us for plagiarism?" someone else asked.

"Are you planning to enter the US market?" Zhang Wei asked back.

"There's no way we can enter the American market." The man shook his head.

"Then what are you afraid of!" Zhang Wei curled his lips: "Xiaonei.com will not enter the US market. If Facebook infringes your rights in the US, the US cannot punish you."

"What if they come to China to sue us?"

"We are a Chinese company, suing in China, so why should we be afraid of the Americans?" Zhang Wei smiled coldly, and then said: "Besides, even if they really come to China to sue, what are they suing us for? Infringement?
Facebook doesn’t operate in China. Since you don’t even exist in China, how can you infringe on any rights? There is no such thing as infringement! Maybe the court won’t even file a case.”

"But what if Facebook enters the domestic market in two or three years and sues us then?" the man asked again.

"That's a matter of a few years, let's talk about it then!" Wang Xing glared at the partner, fearing that this guy would be too stubborn and offend Zhang Wei, the financial sponsor.

Zhang Wei waved his hand nonchalantly: "Do you think Facebook is willing to abide by the laws of our country? Especially the part about censorship!
Americans boast about their freedom of speech every day, and this kind of social networking site must also advertise this. If they insist on this point, is it possible for them to enter the domestic market?
What's more, this also involves the issue of user data. Do you think the country will be at ease handing over the user data of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people to Americans?"

"What if, I mean what if, Facebook is really willing to compromise in this regard in order to expand the Chinese market?" The man was obviously a nitpicker.

"With the arrogance of Americans, this would not happen. If you don't believe me, ask your President Wang. He returned from studying in the United States." Zhang Wei pointed at Wang Xing.

Wang Xing nodded in agreement: "Junior Brother Zhang Wei understands Americans!"

……

After finishing the investment in Xiaonei.com, Zhang Wei received another call from Zhou Hongyi, who wanted to talk to Zhang Wei about the free anti-virus software.

This time, Zhang Wei invited Zhou Hongyi to his own Weiguang Technology.

"We are still in the early stages of our establishment. We don't have many people, so our product development and website maintenance departments work together, and the office conditions are relatively simple."

What Uranus had just said to Zhang Wei was used by Zhang Wei today to deal with Zhou Hongyi.

At this moment, Zhou Hongyi probably had the same mentality as Zhang Wei did when he visited the campus network the day before. He felt that for a startup company, such office conditions were already very good, so what else did he need!
Next, Zhang Wei introduced "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms" to Zhou Hongyi.

As an Internet tycoon, Zhou Hongyi has never made a game, but he certainly knows about online games, but his understanding of online games is still stuck on charging for point cards. The free-to-play, props-charging model of the Three Kingdoms web game is also refreshing to him.

Zhou Hongyi observed for a long time and asked, "I think I understand. The profit model of your game is not based on game cards, but on selling in-game props?"

"Yes, this is the free model I mentioned." Zhang Wei nodded and continued, "Mr. Zhou, what do you think of this model? Can it be used in antivirus software?"

"This model is novel, but it's not suitable for antivirus software." Zhou Hongyi smiled and shook his head, then continued: "I can't sell an antivirus acceleration card in antivirus software? Normally it takes half an hour to kill the virus, but it takes five minutes with an acceleration card? There is no such business model."

Zhang Wei smiled helplessly: "Mr. Zhou, you still don't understand what I mean. My game is free, and the props charging model is just a manifestation of the free model.

You can look at it this way: I provide free gaming services to all players, but some of them are not satisfied with the free services I provide, and they need further value-added services.

So I provided further value-added services, which are these paid props. When players buy props in the game, they are actually buying the value-added services I provide.

In games, this value-added service is represented by charging for props, but in other products, this value-added service can also be other things, even if you provide an advertisement to users, it can be regarded as a value-added service! "

One sentence woke Zhou Hongyi up from his dream. He understood what Zhang Wei meant and his expression changed instantly. He had already figured out the business thinking behind the free model.

"Brother Zhang Wei, you are awesome! I, Zhou Hongyi, rarely admit defeat in my life, but just for your free model, I really admire you!" Zhou Hongyi couldn't help but give him a thumbs up.

Zhang Wei smiled and said, "Brother Zhou, if there is an opportunity for cooperation in the future, you must help me!"

(End of this chapter)